Thanks to all who replied! I thought I'd summarize where I am:
I like three of the suggestions (from what I've seen / investigated (slightly) so far, but with some comments: * pass: appeals to me a lot--the one problem for me (for which I believe I've found the solution) is that it stores the encrypted password files in my /home. I have what might be called a "religious" aversion to storing what I consider "real" user data in /home. I've looked at the source code, and I see where $HOME is used to create that directory. If I use pass, I will, at the very least, modify that in my own copy, but also write to the author and suggest that he allow a command line parameter (or config file) change the location of the directory. * I like the approach that http://masterpasswordapp.com/ takes to create passwords and, iiuc, recreate them each time they are needed rather than storing them anywhere. I'll read up a little more on that. * I haven't spent much time on keepass--maybe in the next day or so * I also like the approach suggested by Abdullah Ramazanoglu (and the somewhat similar Diceware), but I almost didn't find the emails from Abdullah-- for some reason my email client did not receive them--I've done a search of all the local email files (on my computer) (including trash, which I have not emptied in the last several days), and I've searched the Google email spam, trash, and all folders. I'll be digging into this and possibly seek help in a new thread.